UK regulator seeks to outsource licensing work

The UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is seeking to appoint a number of suppliers to a framework agreement for the provision of technical support to its Nuclear Directorate (ND). In a procurement notice posted on its website the HSE said, "The support will be required to enable ND to complete their program of work relating to the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process and the subsequent site specific licensing process for nuclear new build." It added, "Technical assessment support may also be required for the delivery of ND's program of work with existing licensees." The value of the work may be between £15 million and £25 million ($30 million to $50 million) over the lifetime of the framework agreement, HSE said. The HSE is conducting GDAs on three reactor designs for possible future use in the UK: Areva's EPR, GE-Hitachi's ESBWR and Westinghouse's AP1000. Adrian Bull, Westinghouse UK's relationship manager for new plant business, told Bloomberg, "Establishing what capabilities exist within suitable supplier organisations to carry out specific parts of the work under contract to the HSE seems a sensible approach." He added, "We are aware that there are still concerns about attracting the necessary numbers of suitably qualified resources directly into the HSE to carry out this work."